Do away with ‘from the left’ and ‘from the right’
I applaud Dion Makris’s letter in the 3/6 DDN concerning Star Parker and her consistently toxic contributions to our already toxic political environment. Ms. Parker is a skilled thrower of rhetorical bombs. Ms. Parker is a conservative; that’s great; our political dialogue needs constructive conservative contribution. We do not need input that focuses more on name-calling and demonization than on rational discussion of issues. Above all what we sorely need is contribution and thought that contains a grain of awareness that there might be another legitimate point of view; that people can legitimately differ and still want the best for our country.
We need opinion and input from folks who are aware that they do not have all the answers. We need awareness that political opinion and thought cannot and should not all be neatly wrapped in a package that is then labeled left or right, progressive or conservative, socialist or capitalist. Such categories do a great disservice to the challenges our state, our country, and our world face.
Unfortunately, your attempt to achieve “balance” by categorizing every editorial columnist as “from the left” or “from the right” only exacerbates and perpetuates our partisan division. How about dropping the right and left descriptors? We need more opinion that does not fit clearly in a box, just as we need more awareness that neither party or philosophy has all the answers. Getting rid of your “from the left” and “from the right” boxes would be a small but substantive contribution
toward that end.
JERRY BRUNSWICK,
DAYTON
In November, America’s voters made history by electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president. In January, voters in Georgia elected Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Now, with a pro-worker majority in the House, Senate, and White House, America’s labor movement has a chance to build the power of working people like never before. How? The answer is with the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, the most significant worker empowerment legislation since the Great Depression.
If passed, it would dramatically increase penalties for employers that violate workers’ rights; protect strikes and other protest activity; streamline the process for reaching a collective bargaining agreement once a union is formed; and so much more.
This isn’t just any bill — it’s civil rights legislation, protecting women, immigrants, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, and economic stimulus, putting more money in the pockets of workers. It’s a generational opportunity for the nearly 60 million workers who want to join a union but haven’t found the path to get there under current law.
The PRO Act was passed by the House in 2020 but stalled when it fell onto former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk. When McConnell rejected the bill, he slapped millions of America’s workers and union members in the face. And it stung.
With the sting of McConnell’s abhorrent rejection fresh in our minds, we canvassed. We made phone calls. We knocked on doors. And we got it done. That’s why in 2021, America’s labor movement will do everything in our power to win. It’s time to pass the PRO Act.
THOMAS RITCHIE SR.,
PRESIDENT, DAYTON-MIAMI VALLEY AFL-CIO REGIONAL LABOR COUNCIL
To call this a COVID relief bill is really stretching the truth. Since very few people have read this bill, I have a request that all Americans should ask. My suggestion is for the media to list all the line items and the need relative to COVID relief. I need to know how much and where taxpayer dollars are going to foreign countries.
If we can spend billions of tax dollars to other countries, why is there always a threat of Social Security running out of money? And I believe the next jolt is the need to increase taxes on the U.S. taxpayer. This will be presented by our leaders as “our part” to pay for all the COVID-19 expenditures. Also, we will be told that the tax will only be for the rich.
In my 72 years, I have never seen a tax increase that didn’t include me and the rest of the middle class. I believe the
DDN has a responsibility to print a summary of the bill’s cost for each item and justify the relationship to COVID. e.g. the Arts $150M The taxpayer has a right to know, the media has a responsibility to show how their dollars are spent.
MICHAEL SMITH,
MIAMISBURG